School of Art, Design and Fashion

With its innovative teaching and close links to arts industries, there can be few environments more exhilarating for creative minds than UCLan's School of Art, Design and Fashion. Incorporating the fields of Architecture, Design, Fashion and Fine Art, the School offers an extensive range of courses and opportunities to students and partners. Guided by expert teaching staff, our students are encouraged to develop their natural talents into a competitive skill set that can provide a foundation for a successful career.

About the School

UCLan prides itself on producing industry leaders and the impact of the School of Art, Design and Fashion and its students falls well beyond the campus limits. The high quality, professional work completed within the School is recognised by real-world businesses who regularly commission live projects from its courses.

The School’s greatest resource is its staff and we are proud of our vocational roots. We are dedicated to practice-based, industry-led teaching and the majority of our staff are either still engaged in commercial practice or have recently moved into teaching from relevant workplace environments. We work with industry to make sure that we produce students who have the knowledge and skills to find employment in their specialist areas.

Our students benefit from an array of cutting-edge facilities and equipment, including new studio spaces and facilities for Architecture, recently-updated facilities for Fine Art in the Hanover Building, and fully-contained studios and workspaces for Design and Fashion in the Victoria Building. In addition, we have numerous spaces for our frequent exhibition events and shows, including the School’s PR1 Gallery, which hosts a weekly rotation of exhibitions.

Our industrial links continue to grow in strength which ensures our teaching and courses are relevant, highly contemporary and meet the future needs of the sector. We work with a number of businesses and organisations, these include: Umbro, Durex, LG, the Lowry, BBC, Granada, St Catherine’s Hospice, SMD, Dyson, NHS, M&S, BAE Systems, Burberry to name but a few.

Studying design-based courses at UCLan is a friendly, challenging and rewarding experience. The design discipline has an established heritage and philosophy of “creative thinking” that is embedded into our curriculum. It is this creative focus that sets us apart from others. We value our strong links with industry partners, who are regular visitors to the School and work with us to provide advice, present lectures and develop live design briefs that give all of our students real world design experiences.

UCLan fashion courses will teach you strong creative skills, developed
through exciting industry-linked live project briefs, placements and
work-based learning. We have invested in advanced facilities that
nurture and enhance the student learning experience. Our graduates
regularly win top prizes at Graduate Fashion Week and New Designers.

UCLan is a centre of excellence for the study of fine art from pre-degree to postgraduate level, with first-rate facilities, including
specialist studios and workshops. Our students work in all areas of
contemporary art and we were rated as one of the top three courses for
student satisfaction in recent National Student Surveys. Former
graduates include internationally renowned sculptor Andy Goldsworthy
OBE.

Architectural studies at UCLan are based within The Grenfell-Baines Institute of Architecture and benefit from excellent facilities. The Institute’s courses were designed to provide students with the opportunity both for academic excellence and practical experience. This approach, coupled with the close involvement with local employers, produces graduates who are highly regarded in the workplace.